The Little Match Girl
by KillerPrincess84
Summary: A loose retelling of Hans Christian Anderson's story The Little Match Girl. The sixth day of the Hunger Games, following a tribute from District 8 named Zin. Rated T for small mention mild-ish violence.


**A/N: Hello! It's KillerPrincess84. Thanks for clicking on this story. Thank you, Ashley, for listening to the first draft of this story. Can anyone guess which Hunger Games this is? Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games, sadly.**

The national anthem played. It was the sixth day of the Hunger Games. Now, there were only ten of them left.

* * *

Zin was so cold. Her fingers were numb and her bones ached from the intense cold. She looked over to her pack for comfort. Zin had fought hard for her pack, which included a small jug of water, matches, dried meat, and a box of raisins. She killed the boy from District 9, Nath, for it. She didn't use her matches, though. Zin had seen so many Games where someone was killed because they started a fire.

She heard a noise in the distance. She moved slowly from her position on the ground to see what the disturbance was. At first, Zin didn't see anything. Then, she heard the loud footsteps and obnoxious laughter of the five remaining Careers. She ducked down, back into the safety of her hiding place. Zin absolutely despised them. Their leader, the girl from 2, had pushed Zin during the second training day. She was in a lot of pain before the Capitol doctor fixed her ankle. She had also tried to stab her in the back during the bloodbath. The girl, Callista, seemed to have a vendetta against Zin.

"I think this is a good resting spot," the boy from District 1 said. The rest of the Careers agreed that this should be the place they spend the night. The place he had chosen was about 20 yards from her hiding spot. They nominated the other District 1 tribute to stand guard. It wasn't long before Zin heard the soft snores of the sleeping Careers. The night was so peaceful that the guard, Shine, dozed off into a serene sleep, as well.

 _Now's the time. While they're sleeping, I'll make my getaway._ Zin did her best to get up without making any noise. She started walking away from the Careers. She stopped when Zin realized that all the major threats to her being a Victor were sleeping close to her current position. Zin started walking over to them, making sure be to silent. If one of them woke up, she would surely be killed.

Zin didn't have any weapons. The knife had Zin used to kill Nath was still lodged in his chest when she last saw it. Zin was standing over Callista now. Even in sleep she still had that superior smirk on her face. She looked for something to kill with. Zin saw a sword, an axe, a katana, and a supply of small knives in a pile. Zin picked up the sword with a shaky hand. The weapon gleamed with the moonlight. She gently put the sword down, repulsed by the idea of killing anyone else like she had killed the boy from District 9. She needed these Careers gone, though. Zin's mind scrambled to find a solution to her dilemma. Zin thought of her matches. If she did it right, Zin could take all of the Careers out.

She started gathering some kindling for the fires. It took her about an hour to find enough, good kindling. Zin spread it around. Zin took a deep breath before taking the matches out of her small, blue backpack. She struck the match against the plain package and it lit. She stared at it for a moment. Zin had forgotten how cold she was until she felt the warmth of the match.

For just a moment, Zin saw her mother and father in the match. It quickly burned out. She took another match out and struck it. She saw another vision in it and saw her whole family this time: her older brother, her parents, and her baby brother. Zin stared intently at the fire as it burned brightly. She hastily dropped it when it burn her fingers. It fell on kindling and it slowly started to burn.

Zin wanted to speed up the process and got another match out. This time, she was entranced by cake. She remembered the first time she tasted it. She was on the train, headed for the Capitol. It was only a little more than a week ago, but it seemed like forever. Before it could burn out or burn her fingers, Zin placed the match in the kindling, letting it catch fire. By now, she had a decent fire burning. But, she needed it to grow. Zin looked for something to fan it with. Despite the freezing cold, she took off her jacket and used it to fan the blaze. _I'll be warm soon enough._ A grin spread across her face as she saw a vision of a smiling President Snow placing the victor's crown on her head. After a long while, the flames were almost too big. They were almost out of control.

One of the Careers shifted. Zin turned around to see the District 4 tribute groaning. She darted for a weapon. The axe was the first one in her sight. Zin took it and, without thinking, swung blindly at the tribute. He hadn't a chance to scream or even wake up before his head was torn off his body. His district partner screamed. She ran away, still screaming, before Zin had any chance to do something about her. _It doesn't matter now._

Zin realized how tired she was. She laid down, next to the headless body, as the cannon fired with a loud _boom_. Zin looked at her hands stained red with blood. _Just like the people in the Capitol have their skin._ Zin finally felt warm, thanks to the heat of the glowing flames. _I'm just going to take a short nap._ _I've been working all day and I deserve this. Besides, the fire isn't that big yet._ But it was. As her eyes got heavier, Zin saw the people of her district welcoming her home.

 _Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom._


End file.
